A Christmas to Remember
by lifeinfocus
Summary: Castle and Beckett have their first Christmas together. Beckett is determined to make it perfect and create new traditions, but she is still getting over not having her mother there during the holidays. This is my first fic. It's short but I will be adding more chapters. Comments are greatly appreciated. The only thing I own are the words you are about to read. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

The frosty wind sent a chill through her body as she summited the subway steps. Kate attempted to brush a windswept curl out of her face while juggling two festive, red Starbucks cups and an armful of shopping bags. Even though she nearly spilled her latte, Kate managed to tame the unruly strands with one of her gloved hands. Her hair stayed put for a few moments, but as soon as another gust of snowy wind blew through the crowded sidewalk, the brown locks began to swirl like the snow descending around her. Once more, Kate tried to do something with her hair. She was able to tuck some of the longer sections behind her ears, but the shorter layers were a lost cause. Her hair was a long, frosty mess. It didn't really matter. Everyone else was so focused on their Christmas plans to notice that her hair didn't meet its usually very high standards. Anyways, soon enough, Kate would be back in the warmth of the loft and Castle wouldn't even care about what her hair looked like because he would be so enamored with her while they decorated the tree and drank their coffees. Their first Christmas as a married couple was going to be perfect. Kate couldn't wait. 

Kate loved everything about Christmas; the twinkling lights, the smell of pine needles, getting together with family and friends, the entire month of December made her smile. Her affinity for the holiday season was a fairly recent addition to her life (thanks to Castle) and now, the warm feeling was so ingrained into her that she couldn't believe that she had shut it out for so much of her life. Kate did always wish that she and her mother could embark on the festivities together. She wanted to be her mother's sous chef when they cooked Christmas dinner and she wanted her mother to go shopping with her so she could have someone to talk to and laugh with while waiting in the endless check-out lines, but Kate did have Castle, and although he was only a band-aid covering a much bigger wound, the wound was no longer wide open, and that was something.


	2. Chapter 2

Ding. The elevator door slid open and Kate and her numerous purchases shuffled out. She walked down the hallway to the front door of the loft, carefully set everything, and began digging through her purse for her keys. Once she had the keys in hand, she unlocked the front door and began picking up her purchases.

"Babe, I'm home. Want to come help me?" Kate asked.

"One second," Castle responded.

Kate heard Castle's footsteps, then the click of a button, and then Christmas music. She couldn't help but smile; her goofy, adorable husband was making this the best Christmas ever. Then, he came running towards the door but stopped with just enough to slide right up to Kate. Kate laughed.

"I think you deserve a latte for that well executed slide, Mr. Castle" Kate teased as she handed Castle his coffee. They tapped their coffee cups together and each took a sip.

"Why thank you, Mrs. Castle. What can I carry?"

"These please," Kate answered as she handed half of the shopping bags to Castle. Castle started to remove the tissue paper of the first bag in order to find out what was inside, but Kate saw before he could uncover the contents.

"Castle!" She scolded.

"Sorry," he responded.

Castle helped Kate bring in the rest of the shopping bags. They piled them up on the couch, and although Castle wanted to peek at the presents like a small child would, he resisted the temptation. He wanted to make this Christmas perfect for Kate, and if that involved not peeking at presents, he was willing to make the sacrifice.

"While you were out shopping, I finished the tree," Castle informed Kate.

"Babe, it's beautiful," Kate replied.

The tree was almost tall enough to touch the high ceiling of the loft's living room. It was covered with at least ten very long strands of lights and all of Castle's preexisting ornaments plus the numerous boxes of ornaments that Kate had added to the collection when she moved in. The tree looked stunning. Who knew Castle had such an eye for decorating?

Kate draped her arms over Castle's shoulders with her hands clasped together, just the way she liked to before she kissed him. Then she kissed him. It was a long, deep kiss. She loved the way Castle kissed her. He could be an unfocused goofball with the day-to-day things, but when it came to the romance, he was always on task, especially with the slow and romantic kissing. He would let Kate start off with her arms casually draped over him, and then after a second or two of the kiss, he would wrap his arms around her, pulling her in tighter. This time, since there was Christmas music playing, he decided to start swaying back and forth to the music after pulling Kate in tighter. At first, she wasn't sure what to make of this new addition to their kissing ritual, but she quickly went from being pulled along by Castle to willingly swaying to the music.

Now, they were dancing. Kate couldn't remember pulling out of the kiss or when they started twirling, but she loved it. Back, back, side, side, out, spin in, a kiss on the cheek from Castle. He was leading and she was following: something new for both of them. Normally, Kate wouldn't have been okay with this, but it was a Christmas of firsts so she went along with it. Deep down, she found it comforting. She could finally let her guard down. She could let herself be the person she wanted to be. Castle was going to take good care of her.

Castle relaxed for a moment, a Kate took the chance to take one of Castle's large hands in hers. Leading slightly (she couldn't help it, it was part of her personality), she walked Castle to their bedroom, the way she had on the night that they had first slept together, although, this time, she was covered in snow, not drenched in rain.


End file.
